GO2SLEEP: Monitor Sleep Patterns, Screen For Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is having its mainstream moment - on Top Chef Colorado, two of the three contestants in the Bear Den use sleep apnea machines. They joke lightly about it and their CPAP machines, even saying that their third, younger, roommate isn't far behind them. The condition is easily manageable once it's determined - but the diagnosis is the tedious part, and millions of American adults who have sleep apnea remain unaware.

When we are awake, our throat muscles are engaged, giving the air we breathe an unblocked path to the lungs. At night, those throat muscles relax, narrowing the opening. For some people, the throat muscles close so much during sleep that not enough air can reach the lungs, which then triggers the brain to wake up and reactivate the throat muscles to flex open again. The back and forth of the brain waking up and then going back to sleep can happen hundreds of times at night, which prevents restful, deep sleep. Untreated, sleep apnea can be very detrimental to long-term health, weakening the immune system and leading to high blood pressure and a variety of heart problems.

While symptoms include snoring loudly, morning headaches, and overall excessive sleepiness, to truly test if you have sleep apnea, doctors recommend an at-home unattended sleep study, or a polysomnography (sleep study) at an overnight sleep lab, depending on the severity of symptoms. In both cases, the devices used are cumbersome and uncomfortable.

Claus He, an expert in wearable technology and healthcare devices, and Dr. Lin Deng, a Research Fellow at the BHF Edinburgh Cardiovascular Center, are working on products to improve sleep. Their first device, GO2SLEEP, is an at-home sleep management device in the form of a ring. By tracking sleep patterns, blood oxygen saturation, and heart rate, the ring can determine if there is a sleep issue, and it's severity. GO2SLEEP can help suggest minor adjustments to mild-moderate sleep issues and will alert users to see a doctor for more severe cases.

GO2SLEEP works continuously at night, sending a consistent stream of data to the companion app. It's one of the smallest sleep monitoring devices (weighs only six grams), capable of monitoring heart rate, blood oxygen saturation levels, the strength of your pulse, and movements during sleep. Easy to use, GO2SLEEP requires just one charge every three nights of monitoring and comes with a magnetic charger. The device also comes in three band sizes to fit any finger, and for sweaty sleepers, the ring is waterproof.

Getting uninterrupted sleep is critical, and this little investment is the perfect partner to help you reach those sleep goals this year.